Rugby World Cup 2011 Empowering Act 2010
A wide range of consents, licenses and approvals were required for the Rugby World Cup but due to the time-critical nature of the event, the Rugby World Cup 2011 Empowering Act 2010 was passed on November 22, 2010. With limited time until the commencement of the RWC, the Act enabled an accelerated consenting process for the Rugby World Cup and related facilities and activities ‘reasonably necessary’ for the proper conduct of the tournament and allowed for special Rugby World Cup liquor licenses. These special liquor licenses provided the police with greater enforcement powers to control liquor consumption during the tournament. The bill also helped to ensure that New Zealand met the hospitality and hosting requirements of the tournament and that we were able to take full advantage of the opportunities presented by hosting the tournament. A Rugby World Cup Authority was also established as part of the Act. Their role was to consider and determine applications for temporary approvals for the Rugby World Cup and related activities and facilities, as well as temporary declarations. Murray McCully was appointed as Minister for the Rugby World Cup. His role was to take Rugby Union and Rugby NZ 2011 that runs the tournament and oversee relationships with other stakeholders, including the IRB and ensured that there was good coordination amongst government agencies.
Evaluation:
Overall, the introduction of the Rugby World Cup 2011 Empowering Act was a great success in terms of accelerating the consenting process. All activities that were delivered by ATEED and the Government had the appropriate consents before they began and it was evident in responses from all the participants that the Act did alter and help fast track projects. A Project Manager of the Rugby World Cup stated his approval of the Act; “One of the main things that was changed was the consents and processing time lines. So we basically got a dedicated team in council to help fast track any consent issues. Got rid of the long processing time lines, if you said this was a RWC project, it got special emphasis on it.” However, some people argue that this act put economics before the environment as it bypassed the Resource Management Act. A key legacy outcome of the Tournament is that the ATEED events team and the Auckland Council compliance team are now very familiar with the responsibilities tournament organisers have under the MEMA and how to provide secretariat services for an event such as the RWC.
Overall, the introduction of the Rugby World Cup 2011 Empowering Act was a great success in terms of accelerating the consenting process. All activities that were delivered by ATEED and the Government had the appropriate consents before they began and it was evident in responses from all the participants that the Act did alter and help fast track projects. A Project Manager of the Rugby World Cup stated his approval of the Act; “One of the main things that was changed was the consents and processing time lines. So we basically got a dedicated team in council to help fast track any consent issues. Got rid of the long processing time lines, if you said this was a RWC project, it got special emphasis on it.” However, some people argue that this act put economics before the environment as it bypassed the Resource Management Act. A key legacy outcome of the Tournament is that the ATEED events team and the Auckland Council compliance team are now very familiar with the responsibilities tournament organisers have under the MEMA and how to provide secretariat services for an event such as the RWC.